Marissa Spano is a certified yoga instructor, owner of Little Sun Yoga (www.littlesunyoga.com) and the master marketer behind Soul Speeker Media (www.soulspeekermedia.com). Here’s what this New Jersey–based new mom has to say:

“A mother is the strongest person you will ever know in your life. She is the person who carried you before and after birth. She is where you are from, and because of her, I am here today. Being a new mom makes me appreciate all of my mother’s sacrifices as I make my own. And I am sure she felt the same—that each one is more worth it than the last one. I would say the biggest adjustment is not having time to yourself, which for me means no gossip sites or watching television. Instead, I find myself researching all that is baby (especially on TFG) and working on projects that will provide a future for my family.”

Michele OBrien, RN, CBE, is a former Bloomberg TV exec who’s now a writer, registered nurse and mother of three. Here’s what this upstate New Yorker has to say:

“Mom is. Mom is. Mom IS? MOM IS?? What an impossible question. Right now, it’s customer at the ‘sushi-cheese-soup-restaurant-do-you-want-more-coffee-in-your-tea?’ Later, it is very likely going to be ‘stop talking!’ woman. After that? Baby-butt kisser, lunch maker, broken-heart soother, heinie wiper, dish doer and if I’m really lucky? Tick checker, snuggler, story reader and my favorite: universe explainer.

It’s not enough to say it’s a hard job or a rewarding job. It may be enough to say that it is an exquisite privilege to be chartered with shepherding these incredible beings through life. But really, I don’t even think that captures the core essence of what we’re up to in this role. So I went to the source for some clarity. Not sure I got any from the girls. The 4-year-old said: ‘What? You’re just a mother! What do I look like? An alien?’ Hmmm. The 9-year-old? She thinks I’m a great cook and just a ‘leeeetle’ bit funny.

Then I asked the baby. He replied with a hearty ‘ahgoooooo’ and sucked my whole face into his mouth and blew a raspberry on my tongue. Then he peed on me. Eureka! I think I’m getting somewhere…”

Sharon Chase is Princess Sharon (www.princesssharon.com). Her themed parties and special events are all the rage in Boston for children—and even adults, too. Here’s what this mother of two has to say:

“I truly feel that being a mother is the very most important thing in the whole entire world—and at the same time, truthfully, not such an important thing at all. Let me explain myself. When I had my first child, my son, Zander, I was baffled and in awe. The moment he popped out into the world, I was filled with such a mix of emotions. I was excited, filled with the joy of the connection that we had, and at the same time terrified, self-conscious (was I going to be good enough?) and totally overwhelmed at the thought that I was completely responsible for this tiny, little, breathing, moving, crying, soft, yummy smelling, real live human! Wow! A human being that I was in charge of (well, primarily me, anyway). 

After about…oh, let’s see now…five and a half years, I have realized, finally, that I am not totally in charge, nor do I have to feel so scared and alone about this whole wondrous process. I, the great mommy, bearer of all milk, and the super-duper-cleaner-upper-cooker-laughing-when-I-want-to-throw-spaghetti mommy is, after all, not that important. What a concept! A few years have passed now and both of my children have turned out, so far, pretty darn well (despite a few of my not-so-great ideas, philosophies, decisions and anxieties). Yes, my feelings are my feelings and my actions are my life, so I also must continue on a daily basis to think about what the right things to do for my children are, to continue to be teachable, to be an example for them and to keep an open mind to learning how to be the very best person that I can be. I continue to be amazed, though, at how even when, for example, I obsessed for months of my son’s infancy (yes, months) about whether I should pop his thumb out of his mouth or not when he went to suck it, I am continuing to be shown that I am not the be-all and end-all of these children’s lives. I would worry about if he would eat too much cheesecake and Oreos when he was an adult if I breast-fed him all day long out of comfort instead of hunger need. I worried that they would become angry unabombers if I let them cry it out for a while in their cribs at nighttime. Yes, they would feel abandoned, angry and hate me forever for sure.

Oh, the many, many books I read and fears that I had. Everything passes. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, yes, but mostly children are resilient, things pass, grown-ups make mistakes and kids just need love. Love, laughter and humble parents that can be examples for them. As my wonderful grandma Alice once said, ‘Love is all you need. Everything else can go out with the rubbish!’

I humbly come to the conclusion that my kids and I have so much support—a wonderful daddy, family, friends and a strong spirituality that I am passing on to them. So really we can’t be anything without our mommies, but our children don’t come out with instruction manuals, and we have to learn to ask for help, do the best we can, trust and let go.”